Doctor by Alyssa

Doctor by Alyssa - June 2017 Scholarship Essay

While you are young, the adults that surround you tell you that you can be anything you want in life and to reach for the stars. As a child, I did not put much thought into a future career, as I was too busy playing tag with my friends on the playground. It wasn’t until first grade where I had my first dream of a career.
One day my teacher had a career day and we learned about all the possible jobs that are available to us. She said you could be anything, so I made a list of everything that sounded interesting to me. As a child, I was very compassionate and loved helping people. It was very rewarding knowing that you helped someone in need. While in elementary school, my friend and I would go into teacher’s classrooms after school and asked if they needed any help. Even though the teacher never gave us a reward for helping, it did not matter to us. We were excited when a teacher gave us a task to do and bummed when they didn’t have any work. I knew that if I had to pick a career, it would be something where I would help others.
I thought about becoming a teacher because my parents were both educators and I wanted to follow in their footsteps. I also thought about my teachers and saw that their job looked very enjoyable. But then I heard my teacher say the career of doctor. When I thought about a career as a doctor, I thought it seemed like a rewarding job because you are able to help people who are sick. After some time, I realized that this was the career I wanted to have.
Fast forward to seventh grade when I had my first class of Life Science. This class was by far my favorite subject. Most of my friends told me that they thought the class was boring. After their comment, I was under the assumption that they were crazy. I thought it was fascinating to see life at the smallest level. My favorite aspects of the class was learning about the human body and seeing how our bodies operated. At this point in my life, I aspired to become an orthopedic physician. My younger brother had broken his wrist and dislocated his elbow when he was in kindergarten and even though I felt sorry for him, I was mesmerized by how a doctor can fix a broken bone. The thought of mending broken bones and healing the body seemed like magic.
While in high school, I still believed that I wanted a career that dealt with the human body, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be an orthopedic physician anymore. In one of my classes, my teacher had us take an aptitude test and research a career that was given as a result. One of the careers that caught my attention was an Athletic Trainer. Playing sports is my favorite hobby as I have been an athlete since I was four years old. At first glance, I assumed that an athletic trainer was someone who trained athletes; I was wrong. As I was researching this career I realized that the goal is to treat athletes who have had injuries while playing the sport they love and get them into full recovery. It wasn’t long after that I made up my mind to pursue a career as an athletic trainer.
I believe that this is the perfect career for me because I am an athlete and having a career centered around sports is a dream. Although it is not fun for the athlete to sustain an injury, it is rewarding to treat them and see them recover. It is truly captivating to learn the anatomy of the human body and know how you can repair it through the proper techniques.
Recently, I just graduated from my community college where I had played softball for two years. I believe this was a rewarding experience because not only is softball my favorite sport, I was able to learn how an athletic trainer worked with an athlete such as myself. Experiencing this was just an affirmation that I was to become an athletic trainer myself. In the next coming months, I will transfer to California State University Fullerton where I will earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training. From there, it is my goal to obtain a Master’s degree in Athletic Training and then start my career.
Looking back on my childhood makes me appreciate the journey I have had to get to where I am now. If it was not for that day when my teacher talked to us about the many careers you can pursue, I would not have found the career I consider a dream.